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Udinese stun AC Milan to hand Giampaolo losing start

AC Milan opened the Serie A season with a 1-0 defeat at Udinese on Sunday. The struggling Milanese giants had no shots on target in Udine's Dacia Arena and were stunned when the hosts' new Brazilian defender Rodrigo Becao nodded in a corner kick on 72 minutes.

Reuters SPORTS
Published August 25,2019
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Udinese's Bosnian midfielder Mato Jajalo (C) celebrates at the end of the Italian Serie A football match Udinese vs AC Milan on August 25, 2019 at the Friuli stadium in Udine. [AFP Photo]

Udinese handed AC Milan's new coach Marco Giampaolo a losing start when a Rodrigo Becao header gave them a shock 1-0 win in Serie A on Sunday.

Becao, making his debut after joining from Bahia in his native Brazil, rose above the Milan defence at the near post to head in from a corner in the 72nd minute on a sweltering afternoon in Udine.

It was a largely toothless performance by Milan who replaced Gennaro Gattuso with former Sampdoria coach Giampaolo during the close season in a bid to improve on last season's fifth place and to take them back to the Champions League.

Udinese suffered a scare in the 81st minute when the ball appeared to brush defender Samir's arm as he jumped at a corner but, after a VAR review which took nearly four minutes, the referee decided against a penalty.